ChatGPT Ads Opening in 56 Markets Tomorrow: Check If Your Billing Entity Is on the List

On September 16, OpenAI released “Reimagining advertising with AI,” which included a time commitment stating, “The app will be available internationally in markets where ChatGPT Ads are available starting September 23.” This means that the Shopify ChatGPT Ads application will no longer be limited to U.S. merchants; starting September 23, it will expand to all markets where ChatGPT Ads are available. Today is September 22, and the change takes effect tomorrow. This article addresses three questions: Can you open an account to advertise? Where can you view the data? What issues might arise during installation?

Can you advertise? The registration location of the billing entity matters.

There is a paragraph on the Ads Manager availability page in the Help Center that is easily overlooked: “To use self-service Ads Manager, the legal entity that will advertise and be billed must be based in a country listed as available below.” Eligibility is determined by the country of the legal entity responsible for advertising and billing. The location of the store is not a factor in this determination.

The same paragraph also states: “access depends on your country.” Just because an account can be registered does not mean that self-service advertising is possible; using a successful registration to validate eligibility may not be reliable.

56 markets, with neither China nor Singapore included.

The current list includes 56 countries, updated by the Help Center on September 19. Grouped by region: 4 countries in the Americas (the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Brazil); 5 in the Asia-Pacific (Japan, South Korea, India, plus Australia and New Zealand); 32 in Europe (including the UK); and 15 in the Middle East and North Africa, ranging from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to Egypt and Morocco.

Notably absent are mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, with Southeast Asia entirely missing—Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam are not included. Sellers targeting the Southeast Asian market will not be able to use this for now.

For example, a cross-border company in Hangzhou that sells camping lights is registered under an LLC in Wyoming for its U.S. store, which is on the list. When opening the Ads Manager account, they can fill in “United States” as the country, and they will be able to install the app and get it running tomorrow. However, the same owner’s European store is registered under a Shenzhen entity, which is not on the list. They cannot open a self-service account; their only options are to wait for the list to be updated or to go through the OpenAI Ads Solutions team and agency account opening channels, as the availability page states that new European markets can access through this route.

Two points are not clearly stated by the officials: whether the Shopify store address needs to match the Ads Manager account country is not mentioned in the documentation; and the specific availability times for each market on September 23 are not provided in the announcement. These two points can only be verified after the launch.

Advertising methods remain unchanged.

The advertising process is the same: install the app, connect the account, link the Ads Manager account, connect OpenAI Pixel for Shopify, and wait for products to sync into the feed, with a budget set at $25.

Tracking is built-in. To view overall performance, check the Analytics tab in the Shopify backend; for campaign and targeting details, refer back to ads.openai.com.

Channel scale can be referenced from the announcement on August 31: in less than 200 days since launch, annualized revenue reached $1 billion; one e-commerce advertiser achieved a 3x ROAS in 28 days. These figures are from official sources, so take them as references, not promises.

Negative reviews are all about connection and synchronization issues.

The quality of the entry point is reflected in the App Store ratings, which are more tangible than the announcement. The ChatGPT Ads app was launched on September 3 and currently has a rating of 2.7 stars, with 11 reviews—7 one-star and 4 five-star, with no middle ratings.

Negative reviews focus on two main issues. On September 17, a U.S. store called Luma & Leaf reported, “Won’t connect - gives error,” after having the app installed for about 19 hours. On September 21, Aeon wrote, “Products not syncing, manual sync keeps rejecting, support is clueless so far,” indicating issues with product synchronization and repeated rejections of manual sync, with customer support not providing clarity. On the five-star side, Stash Proof rated it on September 18, saying, “Much easier than Google Ads.”

The Help Center lists six troubleshooting items: confirm that the app is connected to the correct Ads Manager account; confirm that the product feed sync is complete; confirm that the products are in active status; confirm that OpenAI Pixel for Shopify is connected; refresh Ads Manager after synchronization is complete; use Chrome or Safari as the browser. If all six have been tried and it still doesn’t work, email ads-support@openai.com.

For sellers whose entities are on the list and primarily operate in the U.S. or Europe, it’s worth trying out the app in the next couple of days, running a budget of $25 for two weeks, and then deciding whether to shift volume from Meta or Google. For those whose entities are not on the list, it’s best to avoid seeking alternative registration methods and wait for the official list to be updated, as that is more reliable.

References:

OpenAI: Reimagining advertising with AI (September 16 announcement, source of the “starting September 23” quote) https://openai.com/index/reimagining-advertising-with-ai/

OpenAI Help Center: Ads Manager Availability (list of 56 countries) https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001245-ads-manager-availability

OpenAI Help Center: Set up ChatGPT Ads for Shopify (eligibility requirements and troubleshooting checklist) https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001523-set-up-chatgpt-ads-for-shopify

OpenAI: A milestone in expanding access to AI (August 31, source of annual revenue and ROAS figures) https://openai.com/index/expanding-access-to-ai-with-chatgpt-ads/

Shopify App Store: ChatGPT Ads (source of ratings and reviews) https://apps.shopify.com/chatgptads